What is the Barnum effect, the reasons, as interpreted by psychologists, manifestations in practice, the impact on the life of society. The Barnum Effect is a way to influence consciousness with false statements. It is widely used in astrology and other manipulative technologies, when, through common phrases, a positive image is created or some important events are predicted that one wants to believe in. One of the methods of getting "easy" money from overly gullible people.
What is the Barnum effect in psychology
People are so arranged that they love prophecies about their destiny. Who doesn't want to know what will happen to him in life, say, in 10 years? Even with a smirk and ostentatious disbelief, some people lay out rather large sums for various horoscopes, fortune-telling on coffee grounds, and other "prophetic" predictions. If extra money is a pocket, why not spend it to find out your future? It is good if a person has a developed critical attitude towards himself and others, then such expenses do not burden the family budget.
But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. In life, it quite often happens that a person cannot solve his problems himself and turns to those who promise to "settle" them. Fortune-tellers and various psychics draw money from a trusting client with intriguing glance passes and "profound" predictions. Others simply turn to all kinds of shamans and magicians out of despair.
Enterprising people have long noticed that a person is too inquisitive, and decided to earn their capital on such weakness. This method of generating income is called the Barnum effect in psychology, when thoughts and attitudes are suggested with the help of general supposedly significant phrases, which many perceive as a prediction of fate.
This method of psychological processing of consciousness was named after the American Phineas Taylor Barnum, who lived in the 19th century, a famous entrepreneur and owner of a circus, nicknamed the King of the Gay Swindle. He cynically believed that people should part with money joyfully, not sparing the money and time spent. Therefore, for his shows, he selected persons unusual in their physical data. For example, Siamese twins, midgets or very tall people performed in his circus. The motto of an enterprising person was the words "a sucker is born every minute."
He was not wrong. Those who easily "got divorced" for money went in a crowd to extraordinary circus performances. He turned out to have many charismatic followers who, in their own way, used the craving of overly gullible people for everything unusual. All kinds of fortune-tellers, numerologists and astrologers have developed a vigorous activity. Horoscopes, various tests began to appear regularly in newspapers and magazines. Psychologist Bertram Forer became interested in such a psychological phenomenon.
His experiment with students is widely known. Each answered 11 questions about his personality in his own way, but he gave everyone one, unified answer and asked them to evaluate the accuracy of testing on a 5-point system. Most of the study participants agreed with the description of their characteristics, giving more than 4 points.
The students believed their teacher and confirmed that this characteristic was “objective” for each of them, although it was the same for all of them. In fact, he deceived them, but his experiment confirmed that a person is psychologically dependent on a "kind" word and the personality of the one who utters it.
It follows from this that people believe in authoritative personalities and without any doubt perceive their words. This is especially evident in the life of society, when politicians shamelessly manipulate the opinion of the people for the sake of their often selfish goals. Psychological experience with students revealed the mechanism of influence on the individual of false postulates and received its second name - the Forer effect or the effect of subjective confirmation of Barnum-Forer.
It's important to know! Every person believes that someone can be deceived, but not him. This psychological personality trait is successfully used by charlatans using the Barnum-Forer effect.
The main causes of the Barnum effect
Man by nature is a curious creature, he believes in his exclusivity, and is jealous of what is said about him. And I would not mind receiving confirmation of this, even if it is vague, vague, but such that it warms the soul. This is used by enterprising people.
Too gullible fortune-tellers, magicians and psychics of all stripes offer their services. You have to pay for them, but it’s interesting to know the truth about yourself, and you don’t mind any money for it. Often, living conditions are also prompting the decision to turn to all sorts of broadcasters, in which they see almost the ultimate truth.
Therefore, the reasons for the Barnum-Forer effect can be:
- Simple curiosity … They say curiosity is not a vice. Apparently because everyone suffers from curiosity - from small to great. They are interested in everything that may be included in the area of interest. For some, it is connected with work, family, rest and study, that is, people care about their own life. It is not at all indifferent how it develops. And here the persistent advertising of all kinds of fortunetellers and psychics, you need to contact them. It seems to be out of simple curiosity, with a certain amount of skepticism. But suddenly the fortuneteller will tell the truth, especially since many speak well of her. Although in most cases this is simple quackery. And, moreover, expensive. The Barnum-Forer effect is evident.
- Problems in personal life … Fate was unfortunate. Let's say she's in adulthood, but lonely. And so I want ordinary human happiness. So why not turn to a fortune teller, especially since a friend went and says that the old woman is good at fortunetelling. She spread her cards and told everything about her former life, that there were good days ahead - she would meet a rich groom. And what if I'm lucky, for this money is not a pity.
- Hopelessness … When everything is so bad that a gap in life is not visible. Let's say a serious illness or someone close to you is hopelessly ill. Doctors do not give a comforting prognosis. Hope only for traditional healers. They even treat oncology. A desperate person brings them the last money. What if it helps?
- Extra funds … Everything is fine at the moment, but why not find out how life will turn out next. A horoscope on the Internet is paid and costs a lot of money. But it's worth paying, it's fun!
- Self-interest … Psychologists say that a person is unconsciously drawn to good statements in his address. This is the so-called Pollyana principle, first described by the American children's writer Eleanor Porter in the novel Pollyana. Always wondering what the other person has to say about you. The person hopes that he will hear something good about himself. When such statements have a supposedly scientific basis, and these are all kinds of psychological tests, why not turn to them to find out "reliable" information about your person. There is a positive side, though. It is not always necessary to spend money on them, you can simply “fish out” them from a newspaper or magazine.
- Unstable psyche … Weak individuals often seek emotional support and approval for their actions. Therefore, they turn to different horoscopes and tests in the hope that there they will find an excuse for their unsightly traits. For example, the horoscope will tell you that on certain days of the current month you do not need to be too active, this will have a bad effect on relationships with friends and family. And at other times, on the contrary, you need to be businesslike.
- Lack of critical thinking … When a person is naturally good-natured, he accepts many statements not critically, but simply on faith. Such people are the main visitors of fortune-tellers, psychics and sorcerers of all stripes.
- Authority … If a person has charismatic character traits, for example, he knows how to speak convincingly, to impose his opinion on others, they believe this infinitely. Everyone remembers the psychotherapist Kashperovsky with his hypnological manipulations. He gathered millions of audiences in front of TV screens and thousands in stadiums. They believed him, paid a lot of money, and after his sessions, many felt bad.
It's important to know! Whether the Barnum Effect will work depends on the individual. You can be interested in, say, your fate, there is nothing shameful about it. But you should not take the predictions of different horoscopes and fortune tellers to heart, as the ultimate truth.
Practical manifestations of the Barnum effect
In life, the Barnum effect is common. It thrives among specialists in all kinds of fortune-telling. Why not muddy the coffee grounds or spread the cards? And then, with a clever look, tell what lies ahead. An impressionable soul will accept with faith and will pay good money for general phrases about a bright future. There are incredible numbers of such easy-earning hunters - magicians, palmists, astrologers, numerologists, other "experts" of human souls.
It is unlikely that all representatives of the occult sciences should be considered charlatans. Among them there are many honest people who sincerely try to explain the nature of man and his place in the world. However, there are also many crooks who quite successfully use the Barnum-Forer effect to enrich themselves at the expense of people who are too gullible or killed by their misfortunes. There is no need to go far for examples.
Barnum's circus was sold out, people came in droves to see unusual people. For example, a certain Fyodor Evtischev from St. Petersburg performed with him. His face was thickly overgrown with stubble, which made it look like a dog's face. He allegedly did not know how to talk, but only growled and barked. Or a Fijian mermaid - a creature with a monkey's head sewn to the body of a large sea fish. On such a miracle people poured a shaft, believed in the reality of such a miracle and paid a lot of money for it.
Such circus performances lightened the pockets of respectable Americans, but they went for it deliberately and willingly. The spicy tricks of the King of Merry Swindle only made people laugh. However, the charlatans realized that it was possible to earn good money for health. If a person is easily suggestible, he is easily amenable to verbal manipulation.
There is no need to look far for examples of the Barnum effect in our time. I remember a session of one folk healer. The advertisement announced that he was curing 101 illnesses, charging the water, and curing from his photograph. They were not cheap and were in great demand. In the House of Culture there was nowhere for an apple to fall, so many sick people gathered. Someone brought paralyzed children, their loved ones in wheelchairs. The edge of the stage was lined with three-liter water bottles.
People were fascinated by the psychic, he seemed the last hope, a straw that a drowning man grabbed to save his life or his relatives. They believed him that they would help get rid of the disease, before which the doctors were trying to escape. And he confidently walked around the stage, explaining the essence of his treatment, guaranteed healing from cancer, cerebral palsy, and other serious diseases. And casually mentioned that his method does not work for those who came to the session without a ticket.
This is the whole point of such a "folk" treatment. The main thing for these healers is money. What kind of compassion for people can we talk about here? Christ healed the suffering for free, and such "doctors" profit from human misfortune. Human disease for them is a profitable business, a way of comfortable existence. Unfortunately, the Barnum effect often works for such self-interest.
It's important to know! The Barnum effect is one of the ways to siphon money out of people who are too inquisitive and gullible, or those who, for various reasons, have found themselves in a difficult situation.
Features of the influence of the Barnum effect on people and society
The Barnum-Forer effect is always present in our life and has a great influence on it. This is how a person is arranged that he always believes in good things in his destiny. This also applies to society as a whole. People, no matter how they live, always hope for justice. Let's say they expect that when another president is elected, life will become happier. On this craving of the people for the better, in fact, on the Barnum effect, various parties and party leaders, striving for power, base their policies.
Impact of the Barnum effect on people's lives
There is hardly a person who, at least as a joke, did not read the cards or in any other way in order to find out his future. For some it was just entertainment, while others took it seriously. Moreover, the fortune-teller who manipulates the cards is authoritative, her acquaintances speak well of her, they say, "she spread the deck and told the truth about me, I was already stunned (a)."
But this is at the most innocuous everyday level. Here the Barnum effect manifests itself as a psychological feature of human nature. A person believes in a happy life, he will certainly succeed. All the more so if the streak of life's failures has now begun. And here is the prediction of a serious, respected fortune-teller. Aunt is well versed in people and tries not to say bad things, except that she scares a little to ostracize, and then she will “run over” with fine-minded phrases, they say, “you will definitely succeed, do not worry, everything will be fine”.
The Barnum-Forer effect is well-known to gypsies. Who is unfamiliar: "Dear, gilded the pen, and I will tell you the whole truth." Gypsies already have this in their blood, they are excellent physiognomists: they understand well the character of a person by the face and can even talk about any disease. People who are mesmerized by beautiful words of fortune-tellers often give their last money.
The "greedy", immoral manifestation of the Barnum-Forer effect is already real charlatanism. Suppose a person is terminally ill, doctors are powerless, and charlatans, playing on feelings, promise to cure, but for a lot of money. Desperate people believe in miracles and pay, hoping to regain health. Moreover, stories about miraculous healing can often be read in the press or heard on TV.
The annual profit from charlatan manipulations - drawing up various horoscopes (for example, on the Internet), fortune telling, magic, and other "wonderful" occult sciences - is estimated in hundreds of millions around the world. A huge number of people resort to the help of various magicians in order to remove damage (or even put on someone), find out their fate, heal themselves or help their loved ones.
It's important to know! The Barnum effect is not always a bad thing. When a person who is extremely angry with life's failures or seriously ill is inspired to believe in the best, this calms him down and helps him to fight his adversity. Naturally, if the one who sows good thoughts does not take a bribe for them. Otherwise it looks immoral.
Impact of the Barnum effect on society
Quite often, the Barnum effect manifests itself at the level of public consciousness as a belief in the supernatural. An example of this is isoterics. There are people who perceive the world in a very special way, believe that there is knowledge that is inaccessible to the uninitiated in the secrets of the beyond.
Let's say they claim that there is reincarnation. After death, a person's soul can be reborn or transmigrated into another body. Such delusions of public consciousness, based only on faith and vague general phrases about the incomprehensible, mysterious in life, are used by clever people and derive their profit from this.
The Barnum effect is especially pronounced in politics. Always and at all times people have hoped for a happy life. The rulers are bad, that's why we live so badly. It is worth removing them, and everything will be completely different. This was the case during the 1917 revolution. The Bolsheviks promised the people a bright future. The people, crushed by need, believed. Life in the USSR became completely different, but it had to be paid for with millions of fates.
Nowadays, when democracy is marching all over the world and pluralism of opinions prevails, politicians again speculate on the inescapable faith of the people in a good life. A lot of beautiful phrases about the wonderful future. And the person believes again. And politicians, exploiting the best feelings of people, gain points and take positions of power, which allows them to enrich themselves. The Barnum effect in the life of society is evident!
It's important to know! Only a critical attitude to such "correct" words of politicians will help the people choose the correct path of state development, which means they can really improve their lives. What is the Barnum effect in psychology - see the video:
The Barnum or Barnum-Forer effect is quite common. It is based on verbal balancing of general phrases, based on the psychological observation that people intuitively believe in the best. If you instill this in them, such information, albeit vague and very vague, caresses the ear and consoles the soul. Gives confidence that life will definitely be happy. All sorts of charlatans use this to siphon money out of people. This is the bad side of the effect, but there is also a good side. With its help, you can make you believe in yourself. It all depends only on the goals for which the healer meets the person who needs his words.
